LOVE AAJ KAL releases today and all eyes are set on pairing up of Saif and Deepika. Imtiaz Ali talks about his leading couple in the film and what made him bring on the entire idea of difference in opinion around love across generations.

Since LOVE AAJ KAL tells the story of Veer Singh (played by Saif) and the mystery girl Harleen Kaur, one feels the Saif-Deepika story gets sidelined once the film goes back in time. Imtiaz defends, ''Not at all. In fact both the stories intersperse with each other and what you get to see is one story in itself with just two couples across different time zones. The story is about the kind of comparison between old and new age love.''

Sounds interesting. So how did he really get an idea to make something as unique as this?

''The story idea was floating around in my mind for a long time. I became more and more engrossed with it during the later stages of JAB WE MET and the entire theme of 'hamare-tumhare waqt ki mohabbat' really got on my head. This is when I met Saif and he too was on board to do something as different as this. He wanted to work with me and just asked me a simple question if this was THE story that I wanted to tell. I didn't say much but just explained to him the basic essence of the film. Once I narrated the first situation of the film, he didn't require any convincing thereafter and told me that I was on,'' reveals Imtiaz.

Did he have similar experience with Rishi Kapoor as well who comes from an altogether different generation?

Imtiaz on Rishi, ''It's a beautiful feel to have both Rishi Kapoor and Saif together on the same frame. They were together in HUM TUM as well. In fact there wasn't any particular actor that I had in mind when I was writing LOVE AAJ KAL. In fact it was only after finishing my writing that I started thinking who could come in for the elder person role. My first choice was Rishi Kapoor there and then. It was quite obvious because the character is such that it suited him so very well.''

And Neetu Singh in the film? ''It's a lovely gesture on her part to be in the film. She is there in just a special appearance though and that too for a solitary sequence,'' ends up Imtiaz.